Generally, an electrical connector includes a dielectric housing mounting at least one electrically conductive terminal therein. The terminal is electrically connected to another circuit component, such as a discrete wire. Connectors often are employed in mateable pairs such that each terminal and the housing of one connector are mateable with a corresponding terminal and the housing of another connector.
Electrical connector assemblies are used in a wide variety of applications, such as in automotive applications, where it is necessary to electrically interconnect a plurality of electrical cables to perform various functions. The terminals of electrical connectors frequently are small components, such as components that are stamped and/or formed from thin sheet metal material. A poor quality electrical connection may occur if one or more terminals are not properly seated in its respective housing. The improper seating of a terminal in a housing may occur if the terminal is not fully inserted into the housing during the initial assembly of the connector or if the terminal is vibrated or pulled out of its fully seated condition during use of the connector. Failures of this type are of a particular concern in the automotive industry where electrical components are subjected to vibration almost continuously during normal use and are subjected to direct force during some maintenance. A pulling force on an electrical conductor secured to a terminal may cause a temporary break in the electrical contact between the terminal and another terminal of a mating connecting device.
More severe pulling forces on the terminal may cause a partial or complete disconnection. In either event, even a momentary break in the electrical connection may result in spurious operation of an electrically driven device or an electrical circuit associated with the connector.
To avoid these problems, in certain environments, such as in the automotive industry, it often is required to provide connectors with some form of a terminal position assurance (TPA) system to detect incomplete insertion of the terminals. In some environments, not only are locking means required on the connector housing for locking the terminals, but a TPA system or device also is required to perform this function. In such applications, the locking means on the housing typically is referred to as the primary lock, and the TPA device is referred to as the secondary lock. TPA devices sometimes are referred to as "terminal retainers".
In using a typical terminal retainer or TPA device, if the retainer detects that one or more terminals are not fully seated, the connector is inspected to locate the incompletely inserted terminal. In some instances, the TPA device not only detects an incompletely inserted terminal, but the device, itself, is used to move the incompletely inserted terminal to its fully inserted position. Regardless of whether the terminal retainer or TPA device is used in a "detect" system or in a "detect and correct" system, the electrical connector assemblies often are made unduly complicated to accommodate these safety components, or the connector assemblies are required to be unduly enlarged to accommodate the extra components. The present invention is directed to solving the various problems described above in a simple and efficient structural combination.